Software Engineer

• Defense Unicorns is seeking a Mid to Senior Software Engineer to help drive our transformation from legacy, on-premises software to a modern, cloud-native platform. In this role you will play a key part in designing and building our next-generation scalable data pipelines to ingest, transform, and load data from diverse sources
• You’ll be joining Defense Unicorns’ US Navy team and be responsible for creating and owning end-to-end project delivery, and advocating best practices in database usage and system architecture. You will work closely with other software engineers, platform engineers, end users, and external stakeholders
• Partner with data architects, analysts, and a wide variety of stakeholders to translate ambiguous product requirements into technical solutions
• Design, build, and maintain complex ETL/ELT workflows
• Implement security protocols, including authentication and authorization,
• Create optimized transformations to clean, enrich, and model data, utilizing cloud-native tools
• Ensure data quality, integrity, and compliance, maintaining metadata and lineage
• Help refactor and modernize existing on-prem systems into distributed, cloud-based services
• Contribute to the design of authentication, identity management, and RBAC/ABAC frameworks
• Participate in architectural discussions, code reviews, and ongoing technical improvements
• Drive best practices in microservice design, testing, observability, and CI/CD automation
• Collaborate closely with partner company engineers and stakeholders to devise the best solutions for our Mission Heroes
• Collaborate with the Defense Unicorns product team sharing improvements and growth opportunities for future projects
• Comfortable in an asynchronous, all remote environment
• Actively participate in communities of practice via Slack and Github Issues
• Integrate software products with existing defense systems, ensuring seamless interoperability and adherence to security protocols
• Own architecture decisions and ensure technical quality across the engineering team
• Develop comprehensive documentation, including design specifications, user manuals, and maintenance guides
• Stay abreast of emerging technologies and industry trends to inform product enhancements and innovation
• Provide technical mentorship and elevate engineering standards across the team
• Communicate effectively with all levels of engineers and stakeholders internal and external to the company
• Influence product direction through deep understanding of user needs and system constraints
• The listed responsibilities are not exhaustive and additional responsibilities may be assigned based on the evolving needs of the organization. We are seeking a dynamic individual who is able to adapt and take on new responsibilities as they arise

Benefits

• Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)
• Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
• Unlimited paid time off, with a mandatory 10 days off on top of 11 federal government holidays
• Medical/Dental/Vision (premiums are 100% company paid)
• Health reimbursement account
• Life insurance & disability insurance
• 401k with employer contribution (regardless of employee contribution)
• Company stock options
• Home office setup budget
• Paid parental leave

• 3+ years (mid) or 5+ years (senior) experience with software engineering
• Expert level proficiency in at least one modern programming language (e.g., Go, TypeScript, Python) with the ability to write idiomatic, testable code
• Experience working proactively, managing time efficiently, and thriving in a vibrant remote work environment! ✨🦄
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, comfortable conveying technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences as well as leading technical working sessions with partners and mission heroes
• Familiar with Core Kubernetes Concepts including but not limited to Controllers, Operators, and CRDs
• Deep knowledge of database design, schema design, indexing, and query optimization
• Experience with implementation of authorization and data governance, security telemetry pipelines, policy enforcement, and role-based access control to ensure compliance and data privacy across enterprise systems
• Analytical, problem-solving mindset with a high attention to detail
• Strong understanding of system design, API development, workflow orchestration (Argo Workflows preferred), relational databases, and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure)
• Experience building a software tool with core focuses on software lifecycle and management
• Modern API design experience, beyond basic CRUD operations; use of RESTful services, and high confidence utilizing tools such as FastAPI in Python, ASP.NET in C#, or equivalent
• Familiar with Department of Defense acquisition or sustainment software modernization projects
• Past experience leading a team through the decomposition of a complex monolithic application design into small, independent services that communicate with lightweight APIs
• Passion for clean architecture, automation, and iterative modernization
• Excited to assess intricate problems, propose solutions, and implement them effectively
• At Defense Unicorns, we’re committed to diversity. If you’re enthusiastic about the role but don’t match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role!
• Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don’t meet every requirement listed